'Elizabeth' to open Panorama, Marathi films to dominate IFFI

Paresh Mokashi's second Marathi outing 'Elizabeth Ekadashi' has been chosen as the opening film of the 10-day long filming extravaganza.

His much-acclaimed debut 'Harishchandrachi Factory' was India's official entry to 2009 Oscars in best foreign language film category.

A number of Marathi and Malayalam films, including this year's national award winning 'Yellow' and 'North 24 Kaatham', are leading the Indian Panorama section at this year's International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Scheduled to take place in Goa from next month, the list of regional films at the Indian Panorama section boasts an interesting mix of movies from Malayalam film industry, including Abrid Shine's cricket biopic '1983', romantic thriller 'Njan Steve Lopez', blockbuster 'Drishyam' among others.

For the first time Marathi cinema is giving a stiff competition to its Southern counterpart with an eclectic mix of films ranging from biopic 'Dr Prakash Baba Amte-The Real Hero' on the life and work of Prakash Amte and his wife Manda, corruption drama 'A Rainy Day' and children's tale 'Kila' to critically accalimed 'Yellow'.

"In Indian panorama this year the films are from very diverse segment... Generally people say that Bollywood becomes top heavy and Hindi cinema gets prominent but Marathi films and movies from south are part of this year's Indian panorama," Vani Tripathi, steering committee member of IFFI, told PTI in Panaji.

The jury, which is headed by renowned filmmaker from Odisha A K Bir, also includes five Bengali and two Hindi films besides one film each in Assamese, Kannada, Khasi, Odia and Tamil.